Made in Bolton, Lancashire
Johnny is as much Bolton as Trotters and Tripe. Johnny is a down-to-earth, friendly Lancashire lad, and is non-stop 100mph on stage. He sings hard with soul, passion and guts, which definitely places him apart from other singers on the circuit. He risks everything and asks for nothing in return. Honesty is one of Johnny's trademarks; he is like an open book, what you see is what you get.
Johnny's show consists of songs from his influences of classic soul songs, songs from Motown, Ric Tic Labels and many songs from the Northern and Rare Soul Scene by artistes such as James Brown, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Holman, Jackie Wilson, Dean Parrish, Spyder Turner, The Temptations, Nolan Porter, Jimmy Radcliffe, Terry Callier, Ben E King, Gene Chandler, Edwin Starr and Many More
Over the last 20 or so years, Johnny has worked alongside many legendary original soul artists, original Motown artistes and original artists from The Northern Soul Scene, and he has worked for many promoters and DJs from the Northern Soul and Scooter scenes.
It all started in his beloved Bolton, where Johnny was destined for a life in music. Taking early influences from his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, Johnny was surrounded from a very early age by a wide variety of music from Rare and Obscure Soul, Tamla Motown, RnB, Mod, Punk, Reggae, Ska, Alternative Rock, Classic Rock , Doo Wop, and Rock and Roll. Johnny is also a collector of Rare Soul, Motown and Northern Soul original vinyl and sometimes DJs.
Johnny first learned of his love for being on stage as a teenager when he and friends formed their first band ‘The Shakers’ in which Johnny played Bass Guitar and helped out with the vocals. They would play at gigs anywhere and everywhere they could around their local area, entertaining audiences in pubs and clubs across Bolton and beyond.
Johnny is a life-long scooter lad, and is the proud OWNER of his very own Vespa PX. You won't find Johnny posing for publicity pictures on a borrowed scooter. This is the real McCoy! He is a member of the Overnight Division Scooter Club, with the nickname "Johnny One Tug"
Slowly but surely Johnny found himself branching away from the band in his early twenties and started to grow the foundations of his solo singing career
From there on, word of mouth has very much taken care of the gigs! What started out as doing a few local gigs for friends, grew into other pubs and clubs wanting to book him, friends of friends on the scooter scene wanting to book him for scooter rallies and a whole host of other Soul venues from all over the UK wanting bookings for their events too.
Over the years Johnny has performed alongside some very well respected artists such as his buddy Tommy Hunt, Johnny's hero Dean Parrish, The Supremes, Kiki Dee, PP Arnold, La La Brookes, Richie Pitts, P.J. Proby, Marvin Ruffin, The Flirtations, Eddie Holman, Judy Street, Archie Bell, The Contours, The Velvelettes, Brenda Holloway, Prince Philip Mitchell, Kim Weston, Chris Clark, Spyder Turner, Pat Lewis, Sydney Barnes, Tobi Legend, Martha Reeves, Madness, The Signatures, Marvin Ruffin, Paul Davies, Sheila Ferguson, Mary Wilson, Jimmy James, Drizabone, Gloria Jones, Ruby Andrews, Bobby Wilson, Jimmy Thomas, Ronny McNair of The Four Tops, and his great mate Diane Shaw.
Johnny has also performed at many Northern Soul All-Nighters, scooter rallies and Northern Soul & Motown nights all around the country (see the "Past Events" page!) He has performed at many of the Northern Soul Survivors Weekenders in Skegness and also performs for goldsoul.co.uk. He's even performed twice for the cast of Quadrophenia!
No Cheese, No Gimmicks Just soulfulness With high demand for his gigs, Johnny travels all around the UK taking his show with him wherever he goes!
Passion Not Fashion, Once In Never Out
